After more than 30 years, the squatter community in St Agnes Place has finally been evicted, writes Rosalind Ryan.

The street in Kennington, south London was reported to be Bob Marley's favourite place to stay whenever he was in the capital. The distinctive Rastafarian community had its own temple, a local radio station, a pirate TV station run from a bus and a unique approach to living in the capital city.

A previous attempt to evict the squatters in 1977 was unsuccessful when residents took to their rooftops in protest and managed to secure a hurried injunction to halt the demolition of several houses.

Another eviction attempt in 2003 failed when the squatters barricaded themselves into the six-bedroom Victorian town houses.

But today Lambeth Council won their long-standing battle with the residents and sent in over 200 police in riot gear to evict them.

A minute-by-minute account of the eviction on the St Agnes Place website shows the determination of the residents to remain in their homes and the media interest in their struggle:

10:30 am: Houses 91 and 78 have had their doors smashed in and bailiffs/riot police are in, residents are evicted..... all press and onlookers have been moved back... a press centre has been set up away from the action so basically there are now no witnesses.

11:20 am: Loud voice now announcing "come out and we can talk about your stuff". There is a shouting match going on with one resident threatening to pour petrol over himself....

1:45 pm: Reports of just one arrest, other detained residents have now been released. House 66 still holding. Riot Police have been seen practicing storming techniques.

By 3.40pm this afternoon, the final squatters were being removed and the website announced a wake for St Agnes Place to be held at Lambeth town hall.

Lambeth council say the street is being demolished to make way for a social housing development in an area desperate for new homes. They say the houses are illegally occupied and the squatters owe them around £4m in unpaid rent.

They also claim the demolition will also help regenerate an area riddled with crime, but the squatters have always maintained there is very little crime in the community.

One resident said: "It's evolved into a unique community in London. You can walk in and out of people's houses here. It's a safe street. There's no mugging here. I think there is a lot of things society as a whole could learn from the way we live here."

Update - Wednesday November 30: This morning Lambeth council announced all 21 of the houses were empty, with the police making final checks to make sure no one was still living in the roof spaces.